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6/15/2006 10:30:00 AM
Toau
An island in the Tuamotus

Tuamotus Atolls - The first 3 weeks

Vanished? Well something similar happened during our 6 week's stay on a small motu (island) on an atoll in the middle of the Tuamotus.

Hallo to you all,

For those who have not been to the webpage lately and the ones who never make it to the end of my long reports - there are new pictures on the webpage! Yep, finally! Have fun looking at them; we hope to send the Tuamotus and Society ones within the next week so keep on checking.

You must think we have been vanished from earth not having heard from us in so long. Well something similar happened during our 6 week's stay on a small motu (island) on an atoll in the middle of the Tuamotus. In order not to stumble over my own thoughts I'll try to split it up into each week. Many of you might not be too keen on all these new boat names and find it confusing to follow the events, yet it is mainly for us to remember all of these wonderful weeks. Let's begin with a little intro of the Tuamotus so that you at least know where we were.

The Tuamotus lie in the heart of French Polynesia, the 77 atolls stretch 1500km from northwest to southeast and 500km east to west.  They are very different from the Marquesas and the Society Islands. The atolls - a coral crown not reaching more than a few meters above the water - surround the central lagoon. Each atoll has its own distinct features. For 30 islands the outer ring is cut by passes or channels, while others are completely enclosed. Some are huge (Rangirora is 75km long) while others are just a confetti on an ocean of ink (Nukutepipi is no more than 4km across). Their shapes are equally variable: circular, square or rectangular. In some cases the lagoons are so shallow they are almost filled in. The atolls are fragile and vulnerable places. Their lack of height means that there is no protection against cyclones and the poor soil and lack of fresh water make agriculture difficult. The growth of pearl cultivation has reversed the outward migration of the population, which has grown from 12.500 to 15.500 people over the last two censuses. There are 45 inhabited islands, ranging from those with a mere handful of often transient occupants to Rangiroa, with a total population of 1900 Paumotus, the name for inhabitant. Life in the idyllic Tuamotus is simple and distractions are rare. The rhythm of life encompasses fishing and pearl culture, work on the coconut groves, the arrival and departure of planes and ships (as well as us cruising boats) and weekly church services.

WEEK 1, May 27th - June 3rd, 2006

After our 2 day passage from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus we stopped at our first atoll, Takaroa. The winds were quite strong and it was too risky to get into the lagoon. So we wanted to proceed on to our next atoll but in order not to arrive there in the dark we had to wait for 7 hours. Together with "Serenity" (Eva and Jim), a boat we knew from Mexico and the Marquesas, but never had spent time with them, we checked out the island. In the late afternoon we left for our 12 hour passage to Toau, a smaller atoll in the northern Tuamotus. Right upon arrival we were greeted by friendly locals who helped us to tie up to the mooring ball. She introduces herself as "Hi my name is Liza - like Liza Minelli, and this is my son Tamatea - in Tahitian, white boy". Well, it didn't take too long and we soon found out that this was the only inhabited motu with only one family of 10 people! There is a mother - who has been living there for 43 years (Violet 63) with her second husband (Philip), her daughter (Valo 42) and her husband (Gaston 38), Violet's second daughter (Liza 40) with her whole family - her husband (Snow 60) her 2 sons (Jean 24, Tamatea 20), her daughter (Vaea 16), the 9 months old grandson (Arihe), whom she has in care from her second daughter living at Fakarava atoll, and one of her workers Gabi. We were immediately adopted into the "tribe" and after only a half hour there Valo put a necklace with a little, black pearl, around my neck as a mother's day present, which is celebrated the 3rd Sunday of May! The next day we had our first lunch with Valo and Gaston, not knowing how many more will follow...! Valo and Liza speak pretty good English and with the rest of the group we used our few words of French, brushed up on some more and gestured with arms and legs...

For a few days we were only 2 boats in the lagoon, "Atoll" with Daniel and Corin from Switzerland, who had been in Toau 6 years earlier for 3 months, coming to visit again on their 2nd time around. On Sunday we attended the small church service that Valo holds for Gaston, her mother and Philip, and in the afternoon we were introduced to their weekly Boul (Boggia) game that they have down to profession. Tuesday, our friends Karen, Barry and Hutch on Sarabi arrived - the big catamaran whom we almost bumped into on our first night in the Marquesas, remember? Together we enjoyed our first restaurant night - here a short explanation for that: Gaston and Valo's brother (who now lives in Papeete) installed several mooring balls in their small lagoon 5 years ago, for safer anchoring and to protect the coral heads. They don't really want to charge any money for it but like to invite you for a Polynesian dinner and get-together at the cost of $ 25,- per person, which is really reasonable price. There is so much food offered that it hardly ever gets finished - the variety goes from Poisson Cru (French raw fish salad in coconut cream), baked fish in coconut, lobster, fish and mussels on the grill (without coconut..), rice, coconut bread and as dessert yes, coconut pie. It sounds like a lot of coconut but each dish has its own flavor and tastes delicious.

The next day we experienced our first fish trip day, which happens every other Wednesday as follows:

At 7.30am it starts with loading the bags of copra (dried coconut) into the big speed boat, then Gaston takes to other boat to the fish trip (about 300 feet out in the lagoon), which has been filled by close to a 1000 "lost" fish the weeks before. First he sorts out the morays and puffer fish by spearing and throwing them over the fence. Then he takes a big net bag and scoops up the fish, handing the net up to Philip and hopefully a willing helper up on the bow of the boat. They then empty it into it, with this procedure repeating at least 10 times until it is almost empty. Back on land the fish get shuffled (yes, like somebody does with snow) onto a platform, sorted into species, thread on a long string (about 5-10 fish each depending on the size), rinsed off and loaded on the big boat as well. The whole process takes not even 2 hours and then he takes off again with helpers (but only men are allowed to go) to the north pass of the atoll (about 1/2 hour) to meet the supply ship from Papeete. He trades his goods for kerosene, gas and beer as well as some pay - the fish are on the market in Tahiti the next day. It is a totally fascinating concept, which we did 3 times, Robert going to the ship each time and being recognized by the crew already..! They are usually back by about 1pm. It is one of their major income and the more fish the better it obviously is.

Also that week our Austrian boat fellows on "Tortilla Flat" with Susi and Georg as well as their friends on "Nathape" with Natalie (from France) and Hans-Peter (from Switzerland) came to the anchorage. On their first evening we had dinner at Liza's restaurant, where she served some wonderful local food upon which one has to pre-order. A year ago they had built 5 small bungalows and restaurant right on the beach which she rents out. Her main client is a dive shop in Fakarawa (the next atoll) who will bring 6-10 guests for 3 days each week starting in July. So, anybody looking for a great vacation place in the Tuamotus, we can highly recommend the Pension Matariva!  On Sunday we all took an excursion to another small, picturesque motu. We took a walk around the island, snorkeled in crystal clear, warm water and enjoyed this picturesque paradise with its pink coral beach. For lunch Gaston and the boys went out to spear fish which he later on put on a little bbq. As extra entertainment Baloo, Gaston's dog a very cute Rotweiler, chased some fish (sometimes even black tip sharks) which was very unique and funny to watch.

WEEK 2, June 3rd - 10th, 2006

We had some fun days with all of them, Susi the big water rat took the boys snorkeling a few times, Nathalie and I took a Brioche bread baking lesson with Vaea... Never again, my arms still hurt the next day from kneading! - You can see my result on the pictures... Robert had started to build a model sailboat with the boys over a year ago, but the project had been on hold for a while. Now the time and mood was right so they started it again with everything spread around Lawur. It took them another week to finish it but due to some problems with the remote control the joy of sailing it was short lived, until we can replace some parts later on. It was almost a bit too difficult for the kids and during the sanding and varnishing projects we escaped to land - it was too dirty and smelly for us. Therefore we did school at Valo's and with that we sort of moved in.. We started to have lunch together, stayed for an afternoon play with the dogs, ping-pong at Liza's, swimming and swinging, helping Gaston with several of his chores. I chatted with Valo, helped her with wash (and got to use her machine as well - SO much easier than doing it by hand on the boat), chatted, looked at their pearls and self made jewelry, welcomed the new boat guests, etc. One restaurant night she asked me if I would want to help her in exchange for staying for dinner ourselves. That was one of many nights and I soon learned how to make all these delicious dishes. Robert on the other hand helped Gaston with the fish, bbq and so on. Even though the two of them could not really communicate all that well, they really had a good time with each other and we started to call them "Chef and assistant"... Mid week the big event was the birth of O'Neill's 14 puppies (Liza's dog), which only 10 survived, still a lot for the mama dog to feed and take care of! When we arrived on Toau 10 days prior we did not think we would be there for this special occasion but as it turned out we even saw them opening their eyes and walking after 2 weeks, quite an unique process for the boys to experience. The little piglets from the week prior were only half as interesting then...

WEEK 3, June 10th - 17th, 2006

We actually had planned to leave on the weekend but it did not take long to convince us to stay. When Valo and Gaston heard that my birthday was coming up they insisted to give a party also to celebrate their 15th anniversary on June 15th. So we continued on with our "life" in Toau, did school on land (by then I left all our material on land), had lunch with them, in the evening we had lots of potlucks with all the different cruisers and many game nights - we introduced the Mexican Train Domino to them, which they loved (thanks Ed and Nancy!). We actually only went to the boat to sleep, no wonder I am so behind on my reports and e-mail...! On Wednesday Robert helped out on another fish trip day, which Gaston was very thankful for. Saturday our friends Laura and Ross on New Dawn, his parents Ray and Judy on Nereid and Ross and Ed from Kabuki arrived just in time for the evening's birthday/anniversary party. Gaston and Valo had offered to bbq one of their pigs Polynesian style (in a hole in the ground with hot rocks) but since the group had expanded more than originally thought (we were 25 people!) it would not have fed us all so she cooked up a delicious Chinese dish. The boys had helped all day and were not shy to participate in all the pig action and preparations; they are definitely a lot more hardy than me..! They in general were so involved in the motu life with both families and started to learn some French, they could have stayed there forever. Vaea and Tamatea came to the boat a few times to play some x-box with them, which surely was a nice diversion for them, too.  So we came to the end of our 3rd week, time was just flying by! The plan was to leave with New Dawn and Co. the week after....

In order to make this report not as long as the Great Wall of China, I'll stop right here and continue with the next 3 weeks in new mail, giving you a little break.

So long for now and big hugs

Yours

TheSchmids Family Sailing on Lawur --------------------------------------------------------------------------- !!! PLEASE DON'T INCLUDE ORIGINAL WHEN REPLYING TO REDUCE DOWNLOAD TIME !!!

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